


Don’t Believe Everything You See

by stellarmeadow



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Angst, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:21:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25255318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarmeadow/pseuds/stellarmeadow
Summary: One of Buck’s neighbors was coming out as Eddie reached the door, so he didn’t have to buzz his way up. As Eddie rounded the corner to Buck’s apartment, he saw the door already open and two people standing in the doorway.Buck and Ali, who were in the middle of a tight hug. Buck’s eyes were closed, a smile on his face that did things to Eddie’s stomach.Shit.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 42
Kudos: 480





	Don’t Believe Everything You See

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spinningincircles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spinningincircles/gifts).



> From a prompt from [spinningincircles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spinningincircles/pseuds/spinningincircles):
> 
> _sentence prompt: “you don’t see me standing here, i just came to say goodbye”_

Eddie checked his reflection in the rearview mirror of his truck, before rolling his eyes. He saw Buck all the time—had, in fact, seen him a couple of hours ago, both of them covered in soot and sweat. 

But that was before Buck had casually suggested they have dinner. Not only that, but that Buck would cook for Eddie. Alone. At Buck’s. 

Carla hadn’t been surprised when Eddie had asked if she could stay a little longer. It wasn’t as if his job was a clock out strictly on time kind of gig. He just hadn’t mentioned that dinner with Buck was the reason. 

What Carla didn’t know wouldn’t hurt Eddie.

 _It’s just dinner, dumbass,_ Eddie told himself. He resisted the urge to look in the mirror again and jumped out of the truck. 

One of Buck’s neighbors was coming out as Eddie reached the door, so he didn’t have to buzz his way up. As Eddie rounded the corner to Buck’s apartment, he saw the door already open and two people standing in the doorway.

Buck and Ali, who were in the middle of a tight hug. Buck’s eyes were closed, a smile on his face that did things to Eddie’s stomach. 

Shit.

He couldn’t be here. He turned on one foot and hurried out of the building, waiting until he got into the truck to pull out his phone. 

_Chris isn’t feeling well – think he might have a cold. raincheck on dinner?_

If anyone deserved to be happy, it was Buck. And Eddie wasn’t going to keep that from happening. 

Buck could just cook dinner for Ali instead.

***

By the time Eddie pulled up outside his house, he’d had three texts from Buck – one with several frowns, another with ‘raincheck!’ and a third with ‘tell Chris he needs to get better so we can go to the zoo this weekend.’

Eddie stared at the messages before he got out of the truck, finally sending back a ‘will do’ with a smile before getting out.

Chris was delighted to see him. Carla didn’t ask about the change of plans, thankfully, she just said goodnight to both of them and left. 

“Does this mean we get to order pizza for dinner?” Chris asked.

“I think I can actually manage to make something better.” At Chris’s dubious look, Eddie sighed. “Okay, I think I can heat up something frozen that’s still better than Domino’s, how’s that?”

Chris still looked a little unsure, but he nodded encouragingly nonetheless. Eddie ruffled Chris’s hair before going into the kitchen. He had lasagna stuffed away in the freezer that should be ready in about the same amount of time as it took to get pizza.

After triple-checking the directions—he refused to give Chris any reason to doubt Eddie’s ability to heat already-cooked food—Eddie left the lasagna in the oven to heat and went back into the living room. They were just finishing up an episode of Chris’s favorite TV show when Eddie heard a key in the door, and then the door open. 

He had just enough time to send up the wild hope that maybe Carla had just forgotten something when he heard Buck call out, “Where my Diaz’s at?”

“Bucky!” 

Chris was up and hurrying over to give Buck a hug, which he returned with one arm, the other one occupied with a bag. “Hey little man—how are you feeling?”

“Great!” Chris let go to look up at Buck’s face, while Eddie tried to look anywhere else. “Dad got home early and we’re about to eat. You want dinner?”

To his credit, Buck’s smile didn’t falter. “Well, I haven’t eaten yet,” Buck said, with a glance at Eddie, “so sure, why not? If it’s okay with your dad.”

The uncertain look on Buck’s face was worse than if he’d yelled, screamed and stormed out. 

“You’re always welcome here,” Eddie said, as he got up. “I should go check on dinner.” 

“I’ll help,” Buck said, following behind. 

Any hope of being saved went away, as Chris went back to the couch. Eddie took a deep breath before he turned around, back against the counter, as he looked at Buck, who was still wearing that damn uncertain face as he put the bag on the table. 

“Thank you,” Eddie said quietly, staring at Buck’s chin. “For not letting on that I told you Chris wasn’t feeling well.” 

“Not Chris’s fault, no reason he needs to know,” Buck said. “But I think that earns me an explanation.”

Eddie dragged a hand through his hair. “I was there,” he said finally, staring at his own feet. “You didn’t see me. But I saw you and Ali at the door, and you looked…well, I didn’t want to get in the way.”

“So that’s why you ditched me?” 

“I just….” The words wouldn’t come, so Eddie just shrugged. 

“Ali’s been out of town for months,” Buck said. “She’d left a couple of things in the downstairs closet that I didn’t even know were there until she missed them. She’d just stopped to pick them up.”

Eddie raised his eyes to see Buck looking…well, not angry, which was good. “Oh.”

“’Oh,’ he says.” Buck rolled his eyes. “So I think the real question here, Eddie,” Buck said, as he took a few steps forward, “is why did it matter?”

“I just didn’t want to interrupt.” 

“Wrong answer.”

Buck moved closer still, and Eddie could smell that cologne that he could swear no one but Buck ever wore, moved until Eddie could feel Buck’s warmth just out of reach. 

“You know,” Buck said, his voice husky and dark, “I had been planning to do this with a nice dinner and some wine, but you have to make everything difficult, don’t you?” 

“Do what?”

“This.”

Buck took the last two steps and leaned in to capture Eddie’s lips. After a stunned moment, Eddie kissed him back, wrapping his arms around Buck as if he might change his mind and run away.

“I don’t want Ali,” Buck said quietly, breathing hard, his forehead resting against Eddie’s. “I’m not even sure I really wanted Ali when I was with her.”

“Oh?”

“There’s that word again,” Buck said, voice laced with amusement this time. He gave Eddie one more kiss then stepped back out of Eddie’s embrace. “I think you owe me dinner,” Buck said, “since you ruined all my plans.”

“I am sorry about that,” Eddie said.

Buck smiled. “Yeah, well, you can make it up to me in a couple of days when we’re off.” 

“You know, Chris has a sleep over one of those nights….”

Buck looks like he’s about to duck in for another kiss, but the timer on the stove interrupts. Eddie pulls the lasagna out and turns off the stove, then turns around to see Buck still looking at him, still wearing the smile. “So…it’s a date, then?”

“Yeah,” Eddie said. “It’s a date.”

\--  
END


End file.
